'Discrimination Still Exists to This Day'
Ms.
Cindi
Adams,
St. Petersburg,
Florida
In February 2000, I purchased a ranch 30 miles north of Perry, Florida. A banker friend of mine set up the sale and told me of a fine lady friend in the area that would help me out. "She knows everyone and everything," I was told. She worked at the local bar and package store in Perry.
The day came when I needed her advice on hiring some help for the ranch, so I wandered into the package store to visit with my only connection to Perry. She welcomed me with open arms, a bright lady with a kind face and honest remarks. She did guide me in the right direction.
One day, I went in to ask her who would be the right person to purchase a tractor and some farm equipment from. As I was sitting there at the bar, a well-dressed black man walked in the front door.
One of the other girls on the bar walked around and said a few words and pointed to the back and walked around the bar. I made the comment, "Did he need directions?" She said, "No, he just needed to be out back in that bar." I'm like, "Oh, I didn't know there was a back bar." She commented, "It's only for blacks."
I am from a small town in upstate New York. I grew up with several black families in our town--great people, well educated, some on the honor roll, some of us the best of friends. Others were longtime friends. I was taken aback. "No way! This can't be."
Subsequently, in 2001, a black senator, knowing the tradition of Perry, walked in the front door and was approached and confronted with the same advice given to any black person that walks in that front door: "The bar's in the back. Back door."
Within months, the Perry package store was closed down and brought to the attention of all the nation to hear that discrimination still exists to this day in Perry, Florida.
